2012 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-motel Show Exhibitors Donate Nearly 42,000 Meals To Chicago's Hungry

The National Restaurant Association announced today that exhibiting companies at its 2012 Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show - held May 5-8 at Chicago's McCormick Place - have donated more than 41,710 meals to the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD).

"Donating surplus food from the National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show is a long-time tradition we are proud to uphold," said Jack Crawford, Convention Chair for NRA Show 2012 and President and CEO of Ground Round Independent Owners Cooperative, LLC. "The generosity of our exhibiting companies this year is amazing, as the number of meals donated this year exceeded the number of meals donated last year by nearly 5,000."

"We are so grateful to the National Restaurant Association and Show exhibitors for their donations to the Greater Chicago Food Depository," said Kate Maehr, executive director and CEO of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. "These donations are especially important as we serve 77 percent more people than we did four years ago."

NRA Show 2012 exhibitors donated a total of 55,614 pounds of high quality, nutritious food products, which provided nearly 42,000 meals benefiting men, women and children in need throughout the Chicago area.

The donated food was distributed through a network of more than 600 qualified GCFD member agencies, which include pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, day care centers and senior living facilities.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago's food bank, is a nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in our community. The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 650 pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to 678,000 adults and children in Cook County every year. Last year, the Food Depository distributed 58 million pounds of nonperishable food and fresh produce, dairy products and meat, the equivalent of 119,000 meals every day. The Food Depository's programs and services for children, older adults and the unemployed and underemployed address the root causes of hunger. For more information, log onto www.chicagosfoodbank.org or call 773-247-FOOD.

The annual National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show is the largest single gathering of restaurant, foodservice and lodging professionals. NRA Show 2013 will be held at May 18-21 at McCormick Place in Chicago. The event attracts 61,000+ attendees and visitors from all 50 states and 100+ countries, and showcases the latest products, services, innovative ideas, up-to-the-minute information about trends and issues and other growth opportunities than any other industry event. For more information, visit the Show website at www.restaurant.org/show, and find the NRA Show on Twitter @NRAShow, Facebook, YouTube and its widely read blog Floored!
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Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises 970,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of nearly 13 million employees. We represent the industry in Washington, D.C., and advocate on its behalf. We operate the industry's largest trade show (NRA Show May 18-21, 2013, in Chicago); leading food safety training and certification program (ServSafe); unique career-building high school program (the NRAEF's ProStart, including the National ProStart Invitational April 19-21, 2013, in Baltimore, Md.); as well as the Kids LiveWell program promoting healthful kids' menu options. For more information, visit www.restaurant.org and find us on Twitter @WeRRestaurants, Facebook and YouTube.